Saturday morning, we both were feeling our day at King's Island a little bit, but not horribly. I had planned on lots of things for the morning, but our tiredness wound up overriding those plans. However, we did manage to stop at Jungle Jim's in Fairfield. I wish we'd had more time, and that I'd had more energy, but I at least somewhat managed to introduce Andy to the marvelous heavenly place that all Cincinnatians know and love. For those of you who don't know, Jungle Jim's is a pretty one-of-a-kind international market outside of Cincinnati. It has old animatronic animals from Show Biz Pizza and displays from Coney Island, way back in the day. They have the world's largest collection of Pez, and a whole wall of Jelly Bellies that you can put together to make your own mix. They have a giant selection of beer from every region of the nation, more wine than I see even in most liquor stores, and as many specialty liquors as you could possibly want. They also have a giant section just for cheese. What could be better than a great big selection of cheese? There's produce from all over the world, and you can even get fresh kangaroo meat there. The dry goods section of the floor is set up by country, including the more obscure ones, like Bulgaria and Macedonia. There's more varieties of olive oil there than I knew existed, and if your heart's desire is a 50lb bag of rice, you can get it at Jungle Jim's for all of $20. They even have different varieties of pop from every region of the country, including those that are really obscure. And the icing on the cake for me? They have the Midwest's largest gluten free section. Shopping there is an experience and a dream. We both walked out with, among other things, our own selections of Jelly Bellies.
Then, we headed up to Franklin, to visit the Smith family. Amanda and I have been friends for going on 18 years, ever since our ATI days. We've helped each other through a lot, and I was the maid of honor in her wedding, in 2009. Her 5 year old daughter, Katy, and I are bookends. Katy was born on July 1st, and I was born on the 31st. Katy always loves it when I come to visit, and thinks I don't come around nearly enough. It had actually been a year since I had seen her. When we got there, I picked her up and said, "Did you know it's been a year since I have seen you?" She laughed and said, in a very grown up tone, "I actually did know that." The girl is smart. She never ceases to amaze me. Ellie, who is 2, is a little (read a lot) less outgoing than Katy. It takes her a while to warm up to people, but she usually does, eventually. Andy and I sat and talked with Amanda and Mike, and somewhat played with the girls for a couple of hours. It was a good time, and by the time we had left, I managed to get the thumbs up on Andy from the bestie, which is always a good thing!
Before going home to get ready for dinner, I drove Andy around my old neighborhood, and showed him the house I grew up in, and the house my childhood best friend grew up in. I pointed out different landmarks and talked about different memories. Then, we went home, where Skip and Linda were finally waiting for us! It was good to see them, as I hadn't seen them in over a year. They took us to dinner at the Christian Moerlein Lager House, which is situated between Paul Brown Stadium and Great American Ballpark, right on the Ohio River, with a fabulous view of the Suspension Bridge. The Lager House was the location of my 30th birthday party, and both the food and environment are phenomenal. We had some great conversation with Skip and Linda, and had a lovely walk along the riverfront.
We got home, and Andy and I watched the last Harry Potter movie on tv, and still managed to get to bed long before midnight that night, which was pretty amazing after a few late nights in a row. I went to bed thinking about how that day had been infinitely better than the same day last year.
Then, we headed up to Franklin, to visit the Smith family. Amanda and I have been friends for going on 18 years, ever since our ATI days. We've helped each other through a lot, and I was the maid of honor in her wedding, in 2009. Her 5 year old daughter, Katy, and I are bookends. Katy was born on July 1st, and I was born on the 31st. Katy always loves it when I come to visit, and thinks I don't come around nearly enough. It had actually been a year since I had seen her. When we got there, I picked her up and said, "Did you know it's been a year since I have seen you?" She laughed and said, in a very grown up tone, "I actually did know that." The girl is smart. She never ceases to amaze me. Ellie, who is 2, is a little (read a lot) less outgoing than Katy. It takes her a while to warm up to people, but she usually does, eventually. Andy and I sat and talked with Amanda and Mike, and somewhat played with the girls for a couple of hours. It was a good time, and by the time we had left, I managed to get the thumbs up on Andy from the bestie, which is always a good thing!
Before going home to get ready for dinner, I drove Andy around my old neighborhood, and showed him the house I grew up in, and the house my childhood best friend grew up in. I pointed out different landmarks and talked about different memories. Then, we went home, where Skip and Linda were finally waiting for us! It was good to see them, as I hadn't seen them in over a year. They took us to dinner at the Christian Moerlein Lager House, which is situated between Paul Brown Stadium and Great American Ballpark, right on the Ohio River, with a fabulous view of the Suspension Bridge. The Lager House was the location of my 30th birthday party, and both the food and environment are phenomenal. We had some great conversation with Skip and Linda, and had a lovely walk along the riverfront.
We got home, and Andy and I watched the last Harry Potter movie on tv, and still managed to get to bed long before midnight that night, which was pretty amazing after a few late nights in a row. I went to bed thinking about how that day had been infinitely better than the same day last year.
No comments:
Post a Comment